#farmview | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

the-name-is-z · 24 days ago

Text

SKELETONS | ch. 67

daryl dixon x f!oc

masterlist

a03 link

Summary: Daryl wakes and finds himself in the presence of new survivors. Warnings/Information: AMC's The Walking Dead OC Insert | 18+ Advised | strangers to lovers; the slowest of slow burns; gore; angst; horror; humour; m/f; burned bodies; threats via handgun; walker bite; amputation; mourning; canon character death; robbery; abandonment

Chapter 67 - Code

When Daryl woke, everything was blurry, echoing voices ringing in his ears. It was dark now, a fire separating him and the three others. The man sat in the middle across from him, the two women flanking either side. He was whittling while murmuring quietly to them, nothing he said really registered in Daryl’s mind.

They rifled through his things in front of him, bagging his crossbow and other items to eventually take. The woman with brown hair asked the man if he knew how to use it. He said yes, but he didn’t like using them to hunt. They had plans to pick up someone named Patty, in search of a new life. Then everything faded out again.

When Daryl came to, really waking up, it was already the next morning. His hands were bound, the man crouched in front of him prodding his injured arm none too gently.

“Get up.” He huffed. “Hey. Get up.” He repeated, this time cocking a pistol and pointing it into Daryl’s face. His hand shook, like he wasn’t prepared to use it. “We’re moving. Here’s the deal. You don’t say shit, and I don’t kill you.”

“I ain’t who you think.” Daryl grumbled, glaring up through the hair falling in his eyes. The hammer of the gun clicked and the man grit his teeth.

“Say something else.” He warned. “Go ahead.” He grabbed the ropes binding Daryl’s wrists, pulling him to his feet, although he looked like he barely weighed ninety pounds soaking wet, so it was debatable he did much at all. “Follow them.” The woman with the brown hair hauled the bag with his crossbow over her shoulder, leading them into the forest again.

“Here. Drink the rest.” She passed a water bottle to the blonde girl.

“We should save it.” She protested.

“We’ll find some more.” The first one assured. “Drink. You’re supposed to stay hydrated. It all works together.”

They meandered through the woods, passed more charred corpses. The woman passed Daryl the bottle with the remainder of the water, but he sidestepped her extended hand, walking ahead.

“Have it.” She offered, but he said nothing. The man grabbed the water from her, shoving it into his face.

“We don’t need you falling down.” He huffed. “Drink.” Daryl took the bottle, downing the rest and handing the bottle back. “They find us, maybe we give you to them, they let us call it even. You see, we’re reasonable people. Everybody’s got their code. You feel you gotta kneel, that’s fair enough. We don’t. Let’s go.” Daryl said nothing, even though he had exactly zero idea what that meant.

“I can’t believe we’re back.” The blonde woman murmured.

“It’s not home anymore, but its better than where we were.” The brunette replied.

“This is a pit stop.” The man called. “We pick up Patty, nothing more than that.”

“How’d you do it?” The blonde woman asked.

“You saw where we left the truck?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“We opened the valve and drove all the way in from Farmview Road. Ran from the tree line till we got to the pavement. Lit up a matchbook from Sweetwater and dropped it in on the trail. Then we just ran from the car. Got in and the dead ones were there, they were beating on the hood and then— boom! Knocked ‘em on their asses and I took an axe to each one.”

“Then we just watched it go up.” The brunette added. “No more moans, no more of that wailing. It was just the fire, just burning them all away.”

“You did all this?” Daryl asked, eyes widening slightly in surprise.

“It was right at the start.” She replied. “Everything stopped— the TV, radio. We were here. The forest was full of them. The other ones in town, they were drawn to it. They just walked right into the flames. We got most of ‘em, thought we ended it for us, and she was in DC.” She motioned to the blonde. “We thought everyone was fighting them wherever they were.”

“Yeah, we thought that was what everybody was doing.” The man grunted. “Fighting it. That we’d all win together. We were stupid.”

“Y’all don’t think you’re being stupid right now?” Daryl asked. The three of them stopped, turning back to look at him. The man pulled the gun from the waistband of his pants, aiming it at him again.

“Are you saying I should kill you?” He asked. Daryl said nothing, making no move. “I mean it, are you gonna try to pull something on us? Are we just being thick here by not removing all doubt? Right now, by me not pulling this trigger, is that a mistake? I'm serious. I really want to know. You made the choice to kill for someone else, to have them own you for a roof over your head and three squares, so maybe I’m not considering all aspects here. You tell me, am I being stupid?”

“No.” Daryl said finally. “Look, I got somewhere to be. We can make a deal. I can help you out.”

“You’re one of them.” The man said accusingly. “You’re hurt and you’re alone and you’d say anything. We should’ve never trusted you people to begin with.” He waved his gun. “Go on, keep moving.” Daryl said nothing else, following where they led.

The man pushed him through the tree line first, coming upon another industrial area. A small building, silos and gas tanks and a few semi trucks all parked in a lot surrounded by chain link. A sign on the fence read PATTRICK FUEL COMPANY. The lot wasn’t filled to the brim with walkers, but there was a few milling around. Nothing too inconvenient.

“Son of a bitch.” The man muttered. The three of them walked up to the fence, hopelessly gazing out. The brunette woman had dropped the bag near the tree line. “Patty.”

“She could be…” The woman trailed off.

“No, she’s gone.” The man nodded.

“Then we’ll make another plan.”

“Yeah, we get out of here, that’s the plan.”

“Then that’s the plan.”

“You guys didn’t have to do this for me.” The blonde woman murmured, gazing into space.

“It was the right thing for all of us.” The brunette assured.

“This was the right thing?” She asked breathlessly. “Even if just you guys went back now, if you just told them that it was me…”

“No, we’ll find a way.” The brunette denied.

“Just think about it.” She panted. Her breaths were becoming shorter, and Daryl was very aware that their attention was drawn away from him.

“No.”

“Look, maybe we don’t get as far, but we’ll get— hey!” The man shouted as the woman collapsed. “Hey, hey, whoa.”

“Tina, hey!” The brunette called. As they fawned over Tina, Daryl crouched down, going for the abandoned bag. “Hey, baby sister, look at me.” She pleaded. While he knew they were distracted, Daryl grabbed it, and bolted.

“Hey, stop! No!” The man yelled after him. He shot off a few rounds, missing spectacularly, and Daryl staggered through the woods.

“Don’t! We need that, please!” The brunette called. Daryl ran a good distance, finding a decent place to stop and sitting down to gnaw at the ropes binding him. He got them off easily, panting as he grabbed the bag again, lunging for the radio.

“Sasha, Abraham, are you there?” He tried again. When there was still no response, he huffed a sigh, putting the radio down and taking a breather. A twig snapped behind him, but he noted that it was only a walker, slowly making its way over.

Daryl hauled himself up, rifling through the bag for his crossbow. He struggled to get it out, movements becoming frantic as the walker got closer and closer. He pulled the crossbow out just in time, releasing a bolt into its skull just as it hobbled over to his little alcove in the dirt. He pushed to his feet, glaring down at the bag that had given him such a hard time. His expression faltered however when he saw what was inside.

A small handheld cooler took up the majority of the space, a big label across the top reading,

INSULIN

MUST BE KEPT COOL

Everything clicked into place and he gnawed on his lip, his head falling.

It wasn’t hard to find three bumbling idiots in the woods. Daryl had his crossbow and the upper hand now, plus everything they wanted and needed. They were sitting on a log, probably piecing together a plan when he appeared from nowhere.

“Drop the gun. Drop it.” He demanded. The man sprung to his feet with the pistol, ready to protect his family. Daryl came closer until the man surrendered, lowering the gun. “Give it to me.” He took it from him, shoving it in his pocket. “I came all this way. What you got for the duffel?” The man blinked at him in shock. “You put me through too much shit to just give it back. Principle of the thing. What you got besides this gun?”

“Nothing.” The brunette whispered.

“What was that thing you were carving?” Daryl asked. The man blinked again, pulling out his work of art. It was a small statue, a little boy playing a guitar.

“My grandfather taught me how—“

“Don’t care.” Daryl replied. “It’ll do.” He took the carving from the man, adding it to his pocket before shouldering the duffel bag onto the ground again. “Take it. It’s all there.” The man stooped quickly, his eyes glued to Daryl in shock. “Good luck. You’re gonna need it.”

He began to walk away when the sound of trees snapping drew his attention. He ducked behind a thicker set of trunks, watching as a group of people drove a hefty truck through the woods, mowing down anything in their path. It creaked loudly as it slowed, then stopped.

The men came out of the truck, more rounding the sides to sweep the area. One of them seemed to lead the charge, walking with a kind of swagger that just deserved a punch to the face.

“Let’s end this.” He called.

“It's ours.” The brunette called back. “We earned what we took.”

“You’re gonna return what you took.” The new man replied. “You’re gonna pay for the gas it took to come out here and for all the time these men took out. It’s over. You know the rules.”

“Your rules are batshit!” The woman yelled.

“We’re not going back, Wade, we’re done kneeling!” The man from the small trio yelled.

“Don’t change the subject, asshole.” Wade scoffed. He whistled and the truck advanced. Daryl surveyed through the trees, realizing that he, along with the three other survivors, were surrounded. The survivors made for a direction but Daryl stepped out, waving his hand.

“Hey! That way. Come on. Go, go, go.” He said quietly, ushering them along.

He helped Tina to her feet when she stumbled, hauling her along with them. The truck following them made for eerie background noise, and Daryl found himself wishing he never left Alexandria. They came upon the little structured lean-to he found them at, letting Tina rest for a moment.

“Hey. Take it.” He extended the pistol back to the man, knowing they would definitely be needing it. They peered out through the lean-to, listening as Wade spoke to his troops, static hissing on their walkies.

“Love you, Sher. You didn’t have to for me.” Tina slurred as her older sister pet her hair, cradling her in her arms. Sher, whatever her name was, reached for the bag, fumbling for the insulin.

Daryl reached forward, rustling the leaves near them as one of the men appeared through the trees. He spotted the leaves moving, but he didn’t spot the walker pinned between a tree and an enormous boulder, right within reach. He got grabbed, screaming out in pain as it sunk its teeth into his arm. He killed the walker with the butt of his pistol, but he was bit.

“Wade, I’m bit. Wade, I’m bit!” He cried. Wade ran forward through the trees, looking down at his comrade. He assessed the bite, cursing under his breath. “Take it off me. Do it, just take it off!” Wade tied a tourniquet tight around his upper arm.

“I’ll get your watch afterward.” He pulled out a machete, rearing back to chop, and struck. The man screamed as his arm was chopped, Wade pulling him to his feet. “Come on. Time to go home.” He pulled out his radio when someone called in for an update. “Cam got a boo-boo.”

“Are you sure?” The radio asked.

“Oh yeah. He only wanted to take this so far.” Wade replied. Sher still fiddled with the insulin injection, peeping everything as clean as she could. “And he only wants ass that’s willing, you know? Come on, Cam, let’s walk it off.” He pulled Cam’s watch off, chucking the severed limb over his shoulder.

“We thought you were with them.” The surviving man stated, turning around to face Daryl. “We knock you over the head, tie you up, threaten to kill you… why the hell did you come back?” Daryl grunted, looking down at poor Tina.

“Maybe I’m stupid, too.” He replied.

“So you knew ‘em?” Daryl asked, leading the group through the forest in Alexandria’s general direction. “Still, you thought I was one of them?”

“Where we were, we were there since the beginning.” The man explained. “We still didn’t know everyone. Back when we first threw in with them, it was as good a place as any. Then things got harder, people got harder, human nature kicked in and it became a truly unique kind of shit show.”

“People will trade anything for safety. For knowing that they’re safe.” Sher stated.

“Everything.” The man agreed. “So they got nothing left except just… existing.”

“Hey, nobody’s safe anymore.” Daryl replied. “Can’t promise people that anyhow.”

“You could promise the people that want to hear it.” The man corrected. Tina froze for a moment, gaze glued to something in the distance before she bolted for it. “Tina, hold up!” They chased after her, coming up to a couple burnt down structures. The first was definitely a frame for a greenhouse, melted glass cooled to odd drips on the frame.

“Carla and Delly. That’s them.” Tina murmured, mournful gaze glued to the remains around them. The bodies. There were two at the end of the greenhouse, laid down neatly on the dirt and covered in a sheet of melted glass.

“Me and Tina used to babysit them when they were kids.” Sher explained. “Everyone said that they went up north when it all started. We didn’t know.”

“I did this.” The man said ruefully, his voice breaking.

“We did this.” Sher replied.

Tina picked a wildflower, laying it over the pair of their bodies.Yet, the motion woke the walkers inside. Tina shrieked as the glass broke, both walkers reaching for her and sinking their teeth into her neck. Daryl, Sher and the man lunged for her, but it was too late, the blood from her jugular pooling to the ground. Daryl killed the walkers as Sher knelt at her side.

“I’m sorry!” Sher cried. “I’m so sorry, baby, We had to try. We had to try, we had to. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. I’m—“ Her voice broke as she sobbed.

As she mourned, Daryl helped the man dig some graves for them. He watched the man dig, aggressively dropping the shovel in the dirt each time in anger, tossing it into the pile while he refused to look up.

“Hey.” Daryl called softly. “How many walkers you killed?” The man looked up, frowning. “Just answer the question.”

“A lot.” He replied, huffing. “A couple dozen at least.”

“How many people you killed?”

“None.” He replied firmly, turning back to his digging.

“Why?”

“Why haven’t I killed anybody? Because if I did, there’d be no going back.” He decided. “There’d be no going back to how things were.” Daryl accepted that answer, putting both hands on the handle of the shovel.

“I’m from a place…” He began, “where people are still like they were. More or less, better or worse.” The man stopped, looking at Daryl before glancing over at Sher. He turned back to the hole after a moment.

“I can walk it from here.” Daryl explained, hauling the branches off of the bike, pleased to see it was still there. “Till we meet up with my friends. They got a car, you can ride with them.”

“How many friends did you say there were?” The man asked.

“I didn’t.” Daryl replied. “There’s two of ‘em.”

“Where are they?”

“We’re gonna find out.” Daryl replied, hauling the bike up.

“How do you know that they even got away? That they didn’t get taken?” He asked.

“I don’t.” Daryl replied, beginning to wheel the bike down the trail. He expected them to follow, yet was unsurprised when he heard the hammer of the pistol click behind him. “Oh, damn it.” He muttered under his breath. He dropped the bike, whipping the crossbow around as the man pointed the gun at him.

“I’m sorry.” He muttered, his hand shaking. “Give her the crossbow.”

“You gonna go back?” Daryl asked. “You gonna be safe?”

“Shut up!”

“Ain’t nowhere safe no more.”

“Give her the crossbow.” He repeated.

“You gonna kneel?” Daryl asked. The man fired a warning shot into a tree beside his head. Daryl pulled the crossbow off, handing it to Sher. The man passed her his pistol, hauling up the bike. He sat on it, revving it to life. Sher got on behind him, a sorrowful expression on her face. She pulled a few bandages from her pack, tossing them on the ground in front of him.

“Patch yourself up.” She said. She looked at him right in the eye. “We’re sorry.” Daryl did not return the expression, the stone look on his face dangerous.

“You’re gonna be.”

Daryl picked up the bandages strewn across the ground and pulled the wooden carving from his pocket. He watched the man and his wife drive away before walking back into the forest. No crossbow. No bike.

He returned to the place he first stopped, looking down at the walker melted into the biker gear. There was a sign on the ground he hadn’t noticed before, reading PATTRICK FUEL COMPANY when he brushed the dirt away. He turned to the right, seeing a large, dark shadow in the trees.

He pushed the trees and branches back, finding a large truck with the same logo. A walker reached for him from the cab, easily disposed of with one thrust of a knife. And lucky him, there seemed to be plenty of gas.

Daryl found Sasha and Abraham close to where he left them, thanks to Sasha. She told Abraham the best way to find a tracker was to let them find him, and he did. The truck fit all three of them just fine, and they were soon on their way back to Alexandria.

“Rick, come in.” Daryl grunted into the walkie as they got closer. “Anybody? Iris?” There was a long moment before there was a garbled sound from the other end, completely inaudible. “Say again?”

“Help.” Was the only meek reply.

TAGLIST:

@heidiland05

@ryoujoking

@catlalice

@maxinehufflepuffprincess

@lowkeyhottho

@fadingpalacebonkpsychic

@hayley1998

@negansbestie

@lizey-thornberry

#thenameisz #daryl dixon #the walking dead #skeletons #the walking dead daryl dixon #twd daryl #twd daryl dixon #daryl dixon x oc #daryl dixon x original character